Theme: 16x15
Words: 69 (missing J,Q,W,Z)
Blocks: 34
Today's offering is another expanded standard grid from the duo of Messrs Martin and George to allow for the triple quad stack in the middle, and that's not all; an additional pair of spanners, one at the top and bottom of the construction with nifty 11-letter climbers that cross the quad stack and one of the other 15-letter fills. This is our second puzzle from the pair, the other being 23 Jan of this year - I looked back and reported that I did OK with the spanners, but not so well everywhere else. This time, I did better, but still got stuck with one - just one - red letter cheat to get me thru due East. Oh well. The spanners;
16a. It's airtight : THE PERFECT ALIBI
29a. Light carrier : FIBER OPTIC CABLE - I knew the first part, but the 'CABLE' part didn't occur to me right away - which is odd, because in my local area, there's a 'cable war' going on between Verizon FiOS, which is Fiber optic, and Cablevision, which is standard; my brother tried FiOS, and switched back.
35a. Text ending in Panama? : A MAN, A PLAN, A CANAL - a palindrome; the same forwards and backwards, when you add PANAMA to the end
36a. Eviction consequence : VACANT APARTMENT - I once worked for a cleaning company that specialized in apartment complexes - we had mixed feelings about evictions because the ex-tenant usually ended up leaving valuables behind ( leather jackets, guitars, liquor, porn ) but also some really vicious mess to clean up - used appliances never once wiped down, and in one case, out of spite, sugar in the carpet and ketchup on the walls
37a. Investment in a relationship : EMOTIONAL ENERGY - well, it fits, but I have never really heard this as a "term" before
54. Retire : PUT OUT TO PASTURE - I had the "-TO PASTURE" part, but my first fills in the SW Down were wrong, so it took a while
I'm on vacatiON WARD~!
ACROSS:
1. Line at the supermarket : SOUP CANS - nothing about BAR CODE(s)
9. Tapering part : SPIRE - my first thought was candles, and table legs - and then other kinds of legs....
Words: 69 (missing J,Q,W,Z)
Blocks: 34
Today's offering is another expanded standard grid from the duo of Messrs Martin and George to allow for the triple quad stack in the middle, and that's not all; an additional pair of spanners, one at the top and bottom of the construction with nifty 11-letter climbers that cross the quad stack and one of the other 15-letter fills. This is our second puzzle from the pair, the other being 23 Jan of this year - I looked back and reported that I did OK with the spanners, but not so well everywhere else. This time, I did better, but still got stuck with one - just one - red letter cheat to get me thru due East. Oh well. The spanners;
16a. It's airtight : THE PERFECT ALIBI
29a. Light carrier : FIBER OPTIC CABLE - I knew the first part, but the 'CABLE' part didn't occur to me right away - which is odd, because in my local area, there's a 'cable war' going on between Verizon FiOS, which is Fiber optic, and Cablevision, which is standard; my brother tried FiOS, and switched back.
35a. Text ending in Panama? : A MAN, A PLAN, A CANAL - a palindrome; the same forwards and backwards, when you add PANAMA to the end
36a. Eviction consequence : VACANT APARTMENT - I once worked for a cleaning company that specialized in apartment complexes - we had mixed feelings about evictions because the ex-tenant usually ended up leaving valuables behind ( leather jackets, guitars, liquor, porn ) but also some really vicious mess to clean up - used appliances never once wiped down, and in one case, out of spite, sugar in the carpet and ketchup on the walls
37a. Investment in a relationship : EMOTIONAL ENERGY - well, it fits, but I have never really heard this as a "term" before
54. Retire : PUT OUT TO PASTURE - I had the "-TO PASTURE" part, but my first fills in the SW Down were wrong, so it took a while
I'm on vacatiON WARD~!
ACROSS:
1. Line at the supermarket : SOUP CANS - nothing about BAR CODE(s)
9. Tapering part : SPIRE - my first thought was candles, and table legs - and then other kinds of legs....
14. Freezer bar with Sir Isaac Lime and Alexander the Grape flavors : OTTER*POP
15. Aleichem who created Tevye : SHOLEM - filled via perps
18. Short and sweet : TERSE
19. Sea lion, e.g. : EARED SEAL
20. Galeón cargo : ORO
21. Etym. : DERIVation - the etymology of a word is where it comes from; I especially like "neighbor" - see here
22. Base address : SIR - dah~! Not APO
24. Confession starter : MEA
26. "Just __" : ASK
38. Medicare card fig. : SSN
39. Go down : SET - think sun
40. __ Banos, California : LOS - one of those has to be LOS or LAS, but with an obscure (for this east-coaster) town
41. Spring time : APRIL - two words, but it wasn't MAY, JUNE, or MARCH
44. Courses for coll. credit : APs - I took two in high school
47. Teachers' lounge : STAFFROOM
52. Berkshire attraction for race fans : ASCOT
56. Charge : ONRUSH - oops, not AMBush
57. Mae West's final film : SEXTETTE - semi-WAG; not in my wheelhouse. The IMDb
58. Lacerations : TEARS - ah, I tried SCARS - and then again one other place
59. Get smashed : TIE ONE ON - haven't done so in over 11 years - now I tie two on - each of my shoes....
DOWN:
1. __ voce : SOTTO - as we have discussed here before, the bigger the stacks, the shorter the crossing fill is, and thus usually easier to fill
2. Remaining : OTHER
3. Unborn, after "in" : UTERO
4. Fires (up) : PEPS
5. Algonquian language : CREE
6. Credit fig. : APR - I am looking into this Lending Tree Credit Card offer of $0 balance transfer; semi-clecho with - 7a. Credit card come-on : NO FEE
8. Fishing tool : SPEAR
9. Sardine cousin : SHAD
10. D.C. in-crowd : POLiticianS
11. "__ awake at night": "Pretty Boy" lyric : I LIE - made sense, so I put it in....
12. Name on the 1984 album "My Kind of Country" : REBA - really my only four-letter go-to fill for country
13. __ Sinclair, protagonist of Hesse's "Demian" : EMIL - again, perps
15. "The Office" star : STEVE CARELL
17. Record holder? : CRIMINAL
21. Be affected by gravity : DROP TO EARTH - I had "drop toWARDS", which made sense, but baffled me in the SW corner
22. French governing group : SÉNAT
23. Qom inhabitants : IRANIs
25. Bankbook ID : ACCT. No.
26. Marryin' Sam presided over his wedding : ABNER - OK, I tried ELVIS....
27. Word on the street : SLANG
28. Big name in backpacks : KELTY - my one red-letter was the "K"
29. Pets : FAVES
30. Muslim clerics : IMAMS
31. Strips for brunch : BACON
32. Nursery item : PLANT POT
33. Bite with un aperitivo : TAPA
34. Willie of "Eight Is Enough" : AAMES - didn't watch the show - "Buck Rogers" was more to my liking
 |
| first guy on the top |
42. All-night bar? : ROOST
43. JFK Library architect : I.M. PEI - I knew this one
44. Less than right? : ACUTE - angles - har-har
45. __ Alegre, Brazil : PORTO
46. Rembrandt contemporary : STEEN
47. Blemish : SPOT - I went with SCAR here, first, and it was altogether wrong
48. Harmony : TUNE
49. Sharp brand introduced in 1977 : ATRA
50. Lou Gehrig's number : FOUR - I thought it was NINE, and so I was never going to succeed until I came to the conclusion that I was wrong
51. Stir : FUSS
52. On the subject of : AS TO
53. Acronymous WWII gun : STEN - I knew this one, too
55. Pink-slip : AXE
Splynter
It's exciting to be back in the Los Angeles Times, in collaboration with the extraordinary Martin Ashwood-Smith Thanks @Splynter for A_CUTE review.
ReplyDeleteA few small points of clarification: When the Yankees started to assign uniform numbers, they corresponded to the position in the batting order; thus Babe Ruth was 3, and Lou Gehrig, the cleanup hitter, was FOUR. Mae West was well known for her double entendres, and even has a life-saving vest named for her. STEVE_CARELL is one of the great actors working today, who got his start with Jon Stewart's The Daily Show.
I'll check back with this forum later, but in the meantime, in case you missed it, a packet of ten puzzles from the Fifth Minnesota Crossword Tournament can be obtained by clicking here. The price is only $5, and it goes to a good cause.
Finished both Friday and Saturday this week without assistance! I thought sure for a while I was going to have to turn on the red, but decided to hold off just a minute or two more, and the logjam broke!
ReplyDelete{B, B+, A, C+.}
ABNER was a fellow who could really TIE ONE ON!
He'd go out like the tides, and to bed with the Dawn!
He once got so drunk
He hit the bed with a thunk --
But next to Dawn's husband. -- He'd gone to bed with the Don!
It's hard to retire, to get PUT OUT TO PASTURE.
For many a second career is the answer!
Some are schooled to aspire
To a post with a SPIRE!
Once they pass seminary, they're put out to pastor!
A delegation of mice approached the ROOST on an owl
They addressed him and said, "SIR, you're an elegant fowl!
But Mr. Hawk says it's a fact
You can't fly on your back!"
So he back-flapped -- into a tree, and was scraped up with a TROWEL!
A aroma to bring TEARS to the eyes as you waken
Is a FAVE for breakfast, whatever else is a-makin'!
Aim some FIBER OPTIC CABLE
At a plate on the table,
Even it can't resist transmitting the scent of fried BACON!
Hi Y'all! With George's name I knew it would be tricky. Thank you and Martin for my mental exercise for the day.
ReplyDeleteI got some of the long fills easier than the 3-letter kind. The NW was the last to fill. Couldn't come up with PEPS, APR, NO FEE, SPEAR (not what I'd fish with), or EARED. SOUP CANS? OTTER POP? Are you kidding me? Groan!
The Panama thing is also a NOVA documentary so that phrase was familiar, but it took me a while to make sense of that because with AMA.... I kept trying to put in AMAZON. Yes, I do know that River is no where near the CANAL Zone. Duh! Mind not working well yet this morning.
Couldn't remember Steve CARELL's name. Could see the face...
QOM & PORTO Alegre, Brazil. ESP & WAG.
The bottom third went together easily.
Thanks, Splynter! And congrats on your continued sobriety.
Someone abandoned a car with a broken out window in front of my house last Sunday. There were some parties in the neighborhood for Father's Day so I didn't think much about it. By Thursday, I started inquiring about it from neighbors. No one admits knowing who it belongs to. Finally phoned Crime Stoppers with the tag number. A policeman, who is a dead ringer for Adam Sandler, showed up. They had no luck contacting the tag owner. So they put an "abandoned" notice on the remaining window and after 48 hours will haul it away. But it's already been here six days. Makes no difference, since cops didn't know. It's an old 2-dr. Alero of crossword fame. I'm glad to know by my nose, there isn't a body in the trunk or something.
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteThe puzzle definitely looked a bit daunting, what with the quad stacks, and it certainly ended up being no walk in the park, but it wasn't all that bad in the end. I struggled in the NE a bit due to the fact that I always thought it was SHALOM Aleichem instead of SHOLEM. But there was no way that 12D was going to be ROBA (even if I could accept that the "D.C. in-crowd" were a bunch of PALS).
The only total leaps of faith were KELTY and EMIL, which were complete unknowns to me. EMIL was at least guessable as a name, but KELTY? Total perps, and even then I feared it was wrong.
Ditto for KELTY, otherwise fell into place.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteThis one required some liberal doses of Wite-Out to undo my faulty WAGs. Hand up for DROP TOWARDS, Splynter. With TEARS in place, my SPOT began life as a WART. ASTO was INRE. Those mistakes made the bottom third the toughest area and pushed this one into overtime. Still, I succeeded in the end, so life is good. Tough one, but a good one, George and Martin!
For those of us who've been PUT OUT TO PASTURE, I read somewhere that Medicare is going to begin assigning non-SSN ID numbers, even for folks who're already on Medicare. Can't happen soon enough. I carry my Medicare card, but I've blacked out the number. Medical minions don't like that. Tough.
NO FEE is the only credit card come-on that might get my attention. I don't carry a month-to-month balance, so a low interest rate isn't interesting. And with no balance to worry about, offer of a balance transfer doesn't make me salivate, either.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteHand up for struggling with Kelty. Never heard of the movie Sextette either, but it was guessable with perps. I read the Wiki about it and came away with the idea it must have been worse than just terrible.
Overall, though, today's puzzle was a smooth solve - and what a spectacular grid! A quad stack plus two bonus grid spanners! It amazes me that it can be done at all. Nicely done, Martin and Dr. B!
Morning, Splynter, I think your definition of taper is spot-on.
Hi everyone ... Martin Ashwood-Smith here :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great write up about our crossword,and of course the feedback!
I'd like to comment about the one square our host got tripped-up on: the "K" of ASK/KELTY
Firstly, we've made the clue for ASK as easy as possible. Secondly, the outdoor manufacturing company, KELTY, is pretty famous, being one of the oldest and largest in the world. But what distinguishes them mostly is that Mr. Kelty himself invented what we know today as the modern backpack, i.e., the "suspension" type with an aluminum frame. This invention from the early '50s almost doubled the amount of "stuff," including bedding rolls, that a camper/hiker/soldier could easily carry.
No doubt, Mr. Kelty simply adapted a stronger aluminum version of what countless other "non-European" cultures had for centuries!
-MAS
ReplyDeleteI couldn't open the puzzle on the MENSA or LA Times sites today. I was getting frustrated until I remembered that I could use the Merriam-Webster site. So my day started out pretty good until I looked at the authors and figured it would be a typical Saturday DNF. But I was wrong. Martin and George did an outstanding and challenging puzzle that was ultimately doable.
On the first time through the across clues I only had ORO, SSN, LOS and APS. The down clues got a lot better and I was off and running. I pretty much agree with SPLYNTER on the puzzle and had some of the same hangups, but slowly it filled in.
Have a great day everyone.
Enjoyed the puzzle. I triggered three red letters which were corrected with my second choice. The K in ASK and KELTY needed a long ABC run.
ReplyDeleteI knew SHOLEM, but thought the last vowel was O for quite some time. It took a while to figure out the end for SOUP----.
I have recently backed away from a 30 year friendship because it takes too much EMOTIONAL ENERGY and we no longer have much in common. There was no dust up or argument just a pulling away. We are still friendly but on a much lesser level. It feels a little like an amicable divorce.
V-8 can for CABLE. Duh!
OTTER POP, perps and wags. I never heard of it. I'd like a Dove bar, instead.
I wondered whether A MAN A PLAN, etc. was the seed entry.
Off to the gym alone. Alan is in bed with a stomach bug, something minor and limited in scope this time.
Contrary to popular belief, my dad was never known as OTTERPOP.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteUpon the first run-through, I sighed, no way was I going to solve it. But, with lots of patience and perseverance, I got my tada w/o help. However, until I read Splynter's parsing of A man A plan A Canal, I was wondering what Amana had to do with the Panama Canal. There was some tricky cluing and misdirection but nothing outrageous or unfair. Very impressive construction, indeed.
Thanks, MAS and GB, for a Saturday stumper and thanks, Splynter, for making it crystal clear.
Our 90's temps and humidity have returned after a brief respite but what we need is a nice, steady rainfall.
Have a great day.
Yikes this was tough. For some reason I had a lot of trouble committing to my first guess in a lot of cases, and that really slowed things down. But I finally did switch to full out WAG mode, and most were right. Still, a crawl the entire duration. Shot myself in the foot in the SE by guessing Stein, which forced me to Google Mae West's last effort. But with that in place, I finally committed to Ascot and Porto jumped into view. So, 1 Goog away from success, but I'll take it with most of my dignity intact.
ReplyDeleteEMIL and KELTY were right but SPOT not SPIT and ONRUSH not INRUSH gave me a one-letter careless fail. I can’t imagine how daunting the construction of the puzzle must have been. Did you finish in the STAFF ROOM over coffee? Wow!!
ReplyDeleteMusings
-The CHECKOUT line was too busy and OPEN AND SHUT CASE wasn’t so airtight
-Just so you know, I PUT myself OUT TO PASTURE
-My records were not held in a TERMINAL
-Great learning about SHOLEM Aleichem and his dairyman
-A great example of not being TERSE
-Montones de ORO en este galeón
-A man mowing on our course accepted my MEA CULPA when my ball landed near him
-I helped make our STAFF ROOM smoke-free and made enemies in the process
-I first heard SOTTO VOCE when Col. Potter asked why his M*A*S*H staff was whispering
-Remaining person’s sweet revenge
-Fires up – not IRKS, IRES or AMPS
-We pay our credit card off every month and so low APR and NO FEE don’t attract us
-Has anyone else ever heard of this slang phrase (last two words)?
-When you sing harmony, you’re not singing the TUNE
-When reporting my score on the course, I sometimes say I got a Ruth (3), a Gehrig (4), a DiMaggio (5), a Mickey (7) or, yup, a YOGI (8).
Yes, very much a challenge today, but got it done! Thanks MAS & GB for the mind work today. Last to fall was AMANAPLANACANAL. Tried CIGAR but that messed up everything else. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteThanks again, Splynter, for another great write-up!
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteThanks to those who had good wishes for BH on her return home yesterday. The are much appreciated.
Solved easily enough for a Saturday. Only white-out was I had spoon before SPEAR. Also to get ca in CABLE.
Liked all the spanners, and the long downs threading vertically through them.
Favorite fill was ROOST.
29a - Here's another Light Carrier.. (Just the right number of characters, too.)
9a. - SPIRE - No problem, but an aside: Tapering (to a point) is 'Spitz' in German. (Clue and answer are both a noun; Spitz is an adjective.) Thanks for the almost CSO.
"Puzzling Thought":
ReplyDeleteUnlike PK, the NW fell first - with some help from perps. I oniginally pencilled in MILES for 7d, but I had SOTTO, UTERO, CREE & APR, so SOUPCANS came by default.
I had just a few random answers until I finally caved and googled 29d; once I had FAVES, VACANT APARTMENT quickly fell; I knew the palindrome of 35a, and then it was just slogging through until the SE corner had me scratching my head. SEXTETTE is not a movie with which I am familiar, and despite having most of the other answers filled in, I finally gave up and came here to see the final answers - thanks Splynter for your write up and explanation - good job to GB & MA-S for a well-constructed puzzle. As others said, I had APO before SIR; SCAR before SPOT; misspelled CARELL; and didn't guess correctly on the EMIL / SHOLEM cross, which was my other Natick.
When I saw the TI at the start of 59a I immediately thought of our regular poster Tinbeni, who may or may not resemble that clue!! 😜
Have a great rest of the weekend; I will be MIA for several days next week, just in case my absence is noted ...
I'm pleased to have finished this challenging puzzle. I think of SOUPCANS as being in a row, not a line; that's just one example of the several ways I was not on the same wavelength as the constructors.
ReplyDeleteMr. Ashwood-Smith, I appreciate your taking time to comment here, and will just comment that it has been a very long time since the external-frame suspension backpack that Dick Kelty developed has been considered "modern." The vast majority of backpacks manufactured in recent decades are body-contoured internal-frame packs; the external-frame pack is decidedly old-school these days. Nevertheless, Kelty remains a major brand name in recreational equipment, and was certainly fair game for this puzzle.
HG @ 9:53
ReplyDeleteAs I suspected, and then confirmed at Urban Dictionary, throwing shade means dissing someone, insulting them. Urban Dictionary is often used by me as I try to interpret the millennials and younger Gen-Xers SLANG
Also, re your "names" for golf scores, I've never known anyone to use BB player's jersey numbers to identify them, but it's unique for sure. And I'm guessing that your playing partners are of similar age and would remember these numbers ... while I try to avoid the "hockey sticks" (7) and "snowmen" (8), they occasionally rear their ugly heads during a round. That's when I will usually invoke the USGA adjusted handicap scoring and just take an "X" ...
Fairly easy Saturday puzzle. Or I just wasn't distracted on a beautiful AM in central NYS.
ReplyDeleteA row of cans. A line of cans. Machts nix.
ReplyDeleteHG @ 9:53 No Musials or (apropos) Slaughters?
ReplyDeleteHusker 9:53 - no, never heard of "shade". Had to Google that one.
ReplyDeleteGary: It seems to me I watched a big track meet on television a few days back that took place at Nebraska. And, I had the same reaction to Harmony/TUNE. No credit card interest for us either. Our kids didn't learn from our example though...
ReplyDeleteI have fond memories of our backpacking trips into the Sierras near Bishop (backpacks with external frames). We saw very few other people. I remember climbing up from out campsite to Fish Gut Lake, about 11,000 feet. I was too tired to do anything but look into the beautiful pristine water. I saw several trout looking back up at me. My tiredness was quickly forgotten as I baited my hook...
Another Saturday Stumper! Ouch!
ReplyDeleteLine at the supermarket = soupcans
(I wonder if they meant "Campbells" or "Progresso...)
Hmm, I may have been able to get this if you threw me a bone George...
Wait a sec, they did give me Utero, Cree, & APR.
Dang it, I might have been able to get this if you threw me "another" bone George!
Anywho, I didn't have a chance because I read "Strips for brunch" as
"strips for a bunch."
( I was looking all over for Bacon without realizing they meant "Bacon..."
(Oh well, Desper-otto made me let out a hearty LOL @ 9:13)
Bill G.
ReplyDeleteI was flying to San Fran last year, when after all those Nevada deserts
I saw these beautiful blue jewels of lakes in the Sierras from 30,000 feet.
They have been on my bucket list ever since.
The one that caught my eye the most turned out to be Convict Lake.
All my research led me to some difficult history,
(& the squirrels carry the plague?)
but I still want to gaze upon that beautiful water...
Friday's Star Ledger thought for today:
"A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company."
(Thanks for the company Bill!)
Oops!
ReplyDeleteThat quote was from:
-Giovanni Vicenzo Gravina,
Italian scholar (1664-1718)
I left it out by accident,
I was too busy thinking
"I hope Bill takes that reference the way I intended it..."
ReplyDeleteAnother tough Saturday slog, as I expected when I saw the byline. This pair of thugs has ganged upon me before. I really despaired after the first pass, so little was filled in. But I steeled my resolve and trudged forward. Eventually a toehold here, a finger hold here, and then the long answers became apparent. In the end patience, perseverance, and perspicacity (lucky guesses) won the day! Sorry I called these fine, intelligent men thugs. It'll never happen again. Great expo, Splynter, thank you. And congratulations for avoiding TIEing ONE ON for so long. Re. that fill: When I served in the Far East, rumor had it that the Officers Club on one of our bases on Formosa was nicknamed the Taiwan On.
Thank you, MAS and GB for a good mental workout today! The snow covered grid seemed daunting and at first pass I had only ORO, LOS and PORTO. Not a very promising start but gradually the center came together and like Irish Miss I wondered what AMANA had to do with the Panama CANAL but on reading Splynter's review I recalled that palindrome.
ReplyDeleteThen I had SHOLOM because I misread it on the DVD cover so that took an exorbitantly long time to recover from until ALIBI gave me REBA and EMIL, a totally unknown name, was completed by EAREDSEAL.
When FLAW proved wrong, SPOT took over and it bloomed from there. WEES about SEXTETTE but TIEONEONE fell quickly and I got a big laugh at ROOST, all-night bar.
KELTY was another unfamiliar name and I left off the K meaning to return to it but forgot, of course, so DNF but the trip was worth it. Though I've heard of OTTERPOP I couldn't recall it so had to look it up, further complicating that section by in VITRO. It finally all was corrected but not with the usual satisfaction.
Ditto on paying credit card balances every month.
Thank you, splinter for a brilliant expo.
Have a peaceful Saturday, everyone!
Due to so many totally unknowns answers it took a while for perps and a few WAGS to grind this one out. Too long but once I started I was bound to finish it. So I'll make it TERSE today.
ReplyDeleteUnknowns first- OTTER POP, SHOLEM, STEVE CARELL, EMIL Sinclair, KELTY, Willie AAMES, PORTO Alegre, I LIE awake, SEXTETTE. A MAN, A PLAN, A CANAL opened the puzzle up after the very few gimmes- UTERO, IMAM, IRANIS, SSN- tat was about it. AS TO the rest, well it took a while, guessing ALIBI and SEAL for the ends of 16 & 19A, allowing REBA to fall. After filling 59A I was ready to TIE ONE ON but decided to finish it. My only write over was BREAK to STAFF ROOM. So before I get the AXE, I bid you adieu.
D-O, I wouldn't worry about your Social Security Number. Every hacker in the world already has it.
ReplyDeleteSailor & anon, a LINE of what a manufacturer stocks, now a row across.
Thank you MAS and GB for this fine collaborative puzzle! This is the first time in a LONG time that I have been able to solve a Saturday puzzle without red letters and/or a trip to Google. Knowing the Panama palindrome is what opened up that center section and got the ball rolling.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you, Splynter, for your informative expo. I always enjoy your Saturday write-ups.
Hand up for never carrying a credit card balance.
Bill G. and CED--Our son and his family were camping at a lake up in the Sierras this week. Yesterday they had a police escort out because of a fire that broke out nearby. My DIL filmed the scene from the car as they drove out. You could see small areas of flame still burning out and smoldering ash within yards of the road. Pretty intense.
Enjoy the day!
"Stock boy, arrange those soup cans in a straighter line."
ReplyDeleteTough but fair - relatively easy for a Saturday pzl. My only real hangup was APO instead of SIR for 22A, "Base address." (I see your hand up, Chairman Moe! Anybody else?)
ReplyDeleteUntil I spotted that mistake I couldn't close in on A MAN, A PLAN, A CANAL, which was - let's face it! - the trickiest, meanest, yet truly brilliant answer of the day!
Along with others who've confessed to confusion, I didn't even free myself from seeing AMANA PLAN until reaching this, the "Comments" section. Yes, I even by-passed Splynter's solid explanation in my rush to scream about it. Sorry, Splynter, I have since gone back and appreciated your golden words and examples... to atone.
Scanning this weekend's WSJ, I discovered that Don hard G and C.C. have a puzzle offered. Think I'll try it later on.
ReplyDeleteI almost gave up but I'm glad I stuck it out. The top and bottom were fairly easy but I had a ton of trouble in the middle. I wanted DROPTOEARTH but "DOWNTOEARTH" fit APO so I refused to give it up. I thought PETS would be FIDOS or FIFIS. A few cups of coffee and a few cigarettes later, I was finally finished. Nice TADA feeling.
ReplyDeleteCan someone explain the clue "Remaining" for "Other". I got it via perps, but I just don't get it. "On the other hand" vs "On the remaining hand", maybe?
Tough, even very tough, but solvable. I would've solved but I forgot to check my work and left the K in Kelty blank. Well, not blank, just filled with a scratch out, in ink. But still, everything a Saturday puzzle should be.
ReplyDeleteRobery Emerson, I will handle these. Will you please handle the other (remaining) ones?
ReplyDeleteYep, very tough. Pretty much WEES. Last to fill was the L in KELTY. Now I get the Panama reference. This must have been a heck of a puzzle to construct. Thank you, fellas.
ReplyDeleteBig Easy, I completely agree that SOUPCANS was legitimate as clued, but for a different reason than yours. Campbell Chicken Noodle Soup (e.g.) would be a line that a grocery could stock. SOUPCANS, I think, are a type of product rather than a specific product line. They can nevertheless be lined up on a shelf, and of course generally are.
ReplyDeleteMy earlier comment was simply meant to say that the constructors had successfully tricked me with that clue, because I wasn't thinking of "line" in that sense.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteIn 1991 a mathematician friend had a party. She had a huge banner hung. It read A MAN A PLAN A CANAL.
Red-letters again today. Am losing it.
Cheers!
C.C. my apologies for working the WSJ Saturday puzzle without noticing you two as the constructors. Since Mr. Shenk is probably not looking here, the cross of 115D & 119A has me wondering. I guessed 'U' which would make the down correct ( according to sources I looked up AFTER filling it) but an 'O' would make the across correct. So I 'DID' "U', and 'DIED'.
ReplyDeletesOnogram-yes; sUnogram-ugh. I never heard of 'quoits' but it looks like horseshoes with a ring.
On behalf of @Martin Ashwood-Smith and myself, thanks to all of you who provided insightful, interesting, and/or humorous comments about today's puzzle. This is a great community!
ReplyDeleteAlso, allow us to join in the kudos to our host, C.C., and her collaborator @Don Gagliardo, for their clever contribution to today's Wall Street Journal!
Thhhhpppt...
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm just to tired to try so I came here for some fun and enlightenment. See, (cue flashback sequence) it started this morning w/ ballet car-pool then Eldest had two choir concerts (she was 1st solo in one!), and well, I'm spent.
I think I got 7 or 8 answers before just TITT. Thanks Martin & George; maybe I'll try to remember what Splynter said and give it a go tomorrow.
Here's the funny thing - BACON (food!) was my 1st fill & anchor. My very next fill was A MAN A PLAN A CANAL; my fav. palindrome. SSN came later and APO was a gimme. I didn't get the other quad stacks (yet :-))
I played for a few more minutes before my little grey cells gave up and wondered back to the Ruben I had w/ Eldest at dinner.
Cheers, -T
I also got stuck thinking it was SHALOM Aleichem. It is an amusing pen name for those of us of Jewish heritage as it actually the common phrase "Peace be upon you". I did not realize until now that SHOLEM is an actual variant spelling of SHALOM.
ReplyDeleteThe story of Fiddler on the Roof is basically the story of our family. Oppressed by the Czar with no rights, but being conscripted to fight in his unjust wars. And coming to America to escape all of that. Glad my ancestors escaped back then!